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Friday, November 16, 2012

A Look Back…80 years ago: Microbial Carbonates

Although
application of new tools to study microbial processes have revealed novel
insights into the role of microbes on calcium carbonate precipitation and
accumulation of many limestone successions, the role of micro-organisms was
postulated long ago.For example,
eighty years ago, Gee reviewed the
observations and interpretations of the role of bacterial activity on the
character and accumulation of carbonates.The review suggested that “…the inferences have usually outrun the
established facts.”He surmised
that “biological and the chemical aspects of this geological problem can
therefore not be considered as distinct from one another,” but that at least in
some settings, the biologic component may be the limiting factor.The study cautioned, however, that “sulphur
organisms, with endocellular calcareous granules, are the only bacteria to
which the phrase ‘specific precipitating power’ applies….”